I am the same and try to buy only the materials I absolutely need or which I get cheap or free. Most fish are not that fussy and I am happy to catch them. If you keep buying materials the cost advantage just goes out the door real quick and the tying bench even more of a mess. I am running into trouble with my fly tying series though because I don't even have the materials for a woolly bugger, don't even mention something flash like a deceiver 😁😁😁.

Nice idea.  How do they swim? Is it a side to side action?  I have seen a few videos of those things they call dragon tails I think.  The movement looks amazing, thought it may work well for kings.

Yup, I know what you mean with home tied. I have always mainly tied for budget reasons, especially salt flies because the things are horrendously expensive, so I keep very limited materials.  The fly tying video series is causing me problems though.  I don't have even very basic stuff others have.  Had to go to the shop to buy materials for the woolly bugger video the other day 

Here is my latest Friday Fly Day video.  My Spam and Eggs fly variant which I discovered worked well for snapper in NZ after it failed for me on bonefish in Aitutaki   Accounted for a few of the snapper I caught today.

Dragon tails yes. 

Thanks for the tips on the dragon tails.  Keen to give them a go.  The action looks awesome.  

This simple looking fat bodied clouser has been producing for me lately. It was an extension of the experiment I did with articulated flies. They were a dead loss. I cut the tail off one then realised the remaining bits of the fly looked quite good. I tried it and hooked up on a kingfish on my second cast. Instantly it moved into my favourites row in my flybox

The construction starts off with a body 'hackle' of short cropped wig hair slightly forward of where you would normally tie in a tail. This extends no further back than the curve of the hook. Longer wig hair is tied in over this, extending out about as far as you see in the picture. Polarflash or some other flashy favourite is then mixed with wig hair and tied over that. Dumbbell eyes are added. Glue is added to the fibres around the 'neck' of the fly in order to control the fibres a little bit.

The result is a bulky but loose clouser/baitfish profile that is remarkably tangle free. It is light and easy to cast and has plenty of pulsating fibre movement in the water without those fibres getting hung up. So far the fish seem to like it.

Cheap to construct too. Mostly made of wig-hair.

Anchovies here. Anchovies, anchovies and more anchovies. A two inch pale basic clouser with a bit of bulk, moving fibres and a bit of flash fits the bill I suppose.

Yes, topwater not going that well. I blame lack of piper. Usually the kingies go-to feed, but very few around this year.

Might get out tomorrow if I'm lucky. Pot holing for snapper and maybe some anchovy action...

nice, always good to see a new take on things.